ABOUT Toggle

Polish violinist Jolanta Sosnowska possesses a unique fusion of versatility, strength, and sensitivity in both her playing and stage presence – a combination that is earning her the acclaim of audiences and critics alike. She has been described as volcanic, instinctual, and totally committed.

Jolanta, who comes from musically talented parents, an organ virtuoso and a violinist, begun playing the violin at the age of six. She is a graduate of the State Karol Szymanowski Primary and Secondary School of Music, the Frederic Chopin Music University in Warsaw in Poland (Master of Arts & Doctor of Musical Arts), the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in the United States (Master of Music in the Violin Performance) and the Vienna Conservatory in Austria (Bachelor of Arts in Baroque Music Performance). Her teachers included Marek Zebura, Mirosław Ławrynowicz, Sibbi Bernhardsson, Werner Hink, Ulli Engel and Gunar Letzbor. In addition she participated in masterclasses led by Giuliano Carmignola, John Holloway, Eric Höbarth, Wolfgang Marschner and Ruggiero Ricci. Thoughtfully & gradually Jolanta built a repertoire, establishing a direction and development of her exceptional talent.

Ms. Sosnowska is a winner of The Paul Rolland Memorial Violin Competition in the USA and finalist of several prestigeous Baroque music competitions in Austria which has quickly opened many European concert doors for her to perform at numerous festivals, only to mention the Resonanzen in the Viennese Konzerthaus in Austria and the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik in Tyrol – angagements she received after the successful performance at The2nd Internation Heinrich Biber Competition in St. Florian I. In recognition to her talent she was honoured and chosen by the Dutch Jumpstart Jr. Foundation to perform and record in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in Holland, in 2010. Her other concert engagements included concert tours in almost all European countries, in the United States, as well as in Peru, Mexico, and Japan.

As a soloist and zealous proponent of Austrian Baroque Music, Polish Romantic and Contemporary works – few recently discovered, Ms. Sosnowska has played and recorded Premieres of music by Emperor Leopold the 1st (1640-1705), Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani, (1638-1693), Heinrich Schmelzer (1620-1680), Zygmunt Noskowski (1846-1909) and Marian Sawa (1937-2005) for labels like For Tune, Acte Prealable and NAXOS, the latter being nominated to the Polish Recording Academy Award – Fryderyk 2017. Her other recordings include CDs for Gramola, Pan Classics, Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon. In addition the artist has recorded concerts, documentaries and programs for the Austrian Radio ORF, Mexican Radio OPUS,Polish Radio PR2, Polish TV Trwam.

As a musician based in Vienna, Ms. Sosnowska also participates & collaborates (as a member or concertmaster) with numerous Baroque and Chamber Music ensembles such as Ars Antiqua Austria, Altomonte Ensemble, Collegium Wartberg, Wiener Akademie, Haydn Akademie, Ensemble vita & anima, Tiroler Barockinstrumentalisten , as well as Swiss formations like Die Freitagsakademie Bern and La Cetra Basel. Concert tours with the above-mentioned groups have led her to number of performances in important music halls like the Concertgebouw Bruges in Belgium (Musica Antiqua Festival), at the Berliner Konzerthaus in Germany, the Rudolfinumin Prag in the Czech Republik, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing in China, and to the Jerusalem Theater (The Jerusalem Festival).

Jolanta’s Particular interest in sacred music resulted in regular colaboration (as a memner and guest Concertmaster) with the Orchester von St. Augustin – a long tradition formation –specifically dedicated to weekly performances of the First Viennese School masses by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and also Schubert.

Ms. Sosnowska’s life philosophy is to share her passion for music with others. She is convinced of its enormous influence on functioning of a single human being and thus on the society.

Jolanta attempts to pass her enthusiasm for music onto young people in giving violin masterclasses in Poland and abroad (i.e. at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, Mexico; numerous music schools & conservatories in Poland). Apart of that, Ms. Sosnowska is, since 2009, the director of the International Organ and Chamber Music Festival in Rożyńsk Wielki (Masurian district, Poland), organizing concerts and pursuing educational projects, working with musicians from all over the world. Since 2006, the violinist is also an active member of The Marian Sawa Society in Poland, promoting the music of the renown Warsaw composer M. Sawa. Ms. Sosnowska has also supported charity organizations in her home country, in example The Dary Losu Foudation by performing fund raising concerts for medical treatment of children in need.

The violinist’s other interest & activities include research work: writing articles, speaking at conferences in Music Universities & Schools. Her interest in earlier music has also resulted in a work about music ensemble settings in the 18th century Die Orchester- und Ensembleaufstellung im 18. Jahrhundert unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Position des Geigers – ausgewählte Beispiele – a book published by the Akademikerverlag edition in Germany (2014).

Jolanta Sosnowska plays two violins: a period instrument by Johann Joseph Ficker, Marknuekirchen (Germany), late eighteen century; and a modern violin by Józef Bartoszek, Zakopane (Poland) 1993.